Peace process in South Asia, resolving Kashmir dispute: KAC

By Ravinder Singh Robin New Delhi, July 21, (ANI) The Kashmiri American Council or Kashmir Center (KAC) and the Association of Humanitarian Lawyers will hold the Ninth International Kashmir Peace Conference on August 1 on Capitol Hill in Washington. According to a KAC press release, a number of delegates from India, Pakistan and other parts of the world, including Justice Rajinder Sachar, Former Chief Justice, Delhi High Court, Kuldip Nayyar, a veteran journalist Pandit Jatinder Bakhshi, Ola Lanka, Vice President, Norwegian Parliament, Farzana Raja, Sherry Rehman, Major General (retired) Jamshaid Ayaz Khan all from Islamabad and also ambassadors of few countries will take part in the two-day conference. Talking to ANI, Dr. Ghulam Nabi Fai, Executive Director, KAC, said the primary objective of this conference would be to explore various ways to settle the Kashmir dispute. The international community is upholding the position of principle that it has sustained throughout the existence of the contentious issue relating to the status of Kashmir, he added. It is, however, a cause of the deepest anxiety for us that the urgency of settling the dispute is getting scant multilateral recognition. As a result of this, no genuine negotiations have yet been held to arrive at a just and lasting solution, he said. Dr. Fai also admitted that it is only the dialogue that could solve the problems of Kashmir. He reiterated that the people of Kashmir welcome the talks between India and Pakistan. They hope that the two governments fully recognize that there can be no peaceful negotiated settlement without the full and active participation of the Kashmiris living on both sides of the cease-fire Line and those belonging to the Kashmiri Diaspora. Dr. Fai further stated that both countries have been in a state of tension over Kashmir ever since the late 1940s when the British were compelled to relinquish their raj. He reiterated both India and Pakistan have fought three wars with the most recent war in 1999 raising the specter of nuclear war. The KAS commends the continuance of the India-Pakistan peace process, though insists that both countries recognize and include the legitimate representatives of the Kashmiri people in their deliberations. (ANI)